Often when a visitor comes to the home of a friend or family member to watch television programming, he may see that the friend or family member's programming package offers certain features, or channels, or shows that the visitor does not have. Under the current art of interactive programming guides (IPGs) for television viewing, a visitor would have to ask the friend or family member how to get these options that he does not have, record the information, and then call the programming provider's call center to inquire about obtaining such options. The creates a lot of work, and does not provide any guarantee that the visitor will end up with the same package, since he might not originally record all or appropriate information for identifying the programming package. Accordingly, what is clearly needed is a mechanism that would assist a visitor in signing up for a programming package, whereby the user would not need to record any information or call any call centers.